[Genshin Impact Theory] The outness

Time is certainly the most important element of every Genshin theory. We struggle to adjust the happenings in a way that they don't contradict with one other but it doesn't seem to be possible. And the only possible explanation of it is that time itself is messed up. 

Raiden's Archon quest confirmed this, explaining the presence of the Sacred Sakura which was planted in the future to grow in the past of Inazuma. And how the Traveler was 'meant to be there to witness this'.

I have quite a few thoughts about the Travelers being time travelers but also about being time travelers from Khaneri'ah but let's speculate about it a bit further.

I am getting caught by the lines here:

'We have always had enough time'

'Delegations from Khaenri'ah had visited Enkanomiya before'

and my favorite one 'We will define this world with the power from beyond'

Beyond what? The bubble? The firmament? The fake skies? Or beyond time. The power from the future.

Of course it's entirely possible that Khaenri'ah existed already when Enkanomiya was trapped under Teyvat but it is kind of suspicious. In fact Khaenri'ah seemed to be like Fatui, being diplomats while searching for something hidden. 

Comparing both of these nations obviously they share similar technological achievements, even tho Khaenri'ah appears to be much further developed...

I always thought Khaneri'ah is from different timeline, that they were actually time travelers investigating their past in attempt to save their future. 

The Second Archon quest of Inazuma really made so many new questions grow... and theories...

Why do I think what I think tho:

At first I thought that the main characters are originally from Khaneri'ah themselves, that they traveled to different worlds and that the scenes with Lumine from the trailer where it's supposed that we withness the Cataslysm we actually see the Future, we are in the Future and therefore we had to go back to prevent it to happen. And in a way I think that we are not the only ones who know what is about to happen. Of course all of the time lines are messed up and connected in weird ways, impossible to predict where we'd get the next sprout planted by Hohoverse.

However I started to change my opinion about the Travelers origins back to a concept I wrote about quite long ago - the Manichaeism and the divine Light trapped in the human world and unable to return to the Light realm of God. This is quite literally what happened to our Travelers. Not to mention that the profit Mani was a Traveler himself. A kind of a diplomat of his beliefs that become a religion. The pattern here is how Khaenri'ah tried to establish connections with other nations and this may or may not had been seen by the gods as a thread of new beliefs to be spread. Back to the line from the travail trailer - 'We will define this world with the power from beyond'. This comes from a guy who's supposed to witness the Cataclysm and the Fall of Khaenri'ah and as of now it sounds more like what they had planned to do rather than what they plan to do in the future. But then again if the Cataclysm actually happens in the future than maybe Dainsleif knows that defining the world must be done from the Future just as we saw it happening in the Archon quest. That leaves the question how did we end in the past in this scenario? Well we might as well not be in the past... maybe we are in a cycle. 

Here I'd mention Honkai Impact briefly with the released story of Otto Apocalypse in his final act of changing the past for Kallen and he actually achieved this by branching new possibilities from the imaginary tree. Less or more creating a parallel reality. On Genshin we have Dainsleif described as the Bough Keeper, less or more meaning that he is supposed to keep the bough from branching as well as it could mean that he keeps the tree from being harmed somehow. It could also mean tho that Khaenri'ah had its own special tree and he was in charge of keeping it safe. And I find this more likely since we know that Khaenri'ah falls down part of future time, it might actually be happening because of their tree was destroyed and with it's dying monsters were released within it's ley line energy leaking.

I am thinking of this... if Ei planted the Sakura tree in the future and it grew in the past... and people had memory if it but she didn't.. and she was as confused as the traveler whenever they talk about the Fall of Khaenri'ah just as if Khaenri'ah falls in the future but everybody already have the memories of it.

That can only mean that Khaenri'ah was in some different time line to begin with. However if we are about to reach the Cataclysm once more that means that the Archons would have to go there once more, inevitably. If that is the care maybe they used that time to prepare the human they were governing to live their live without the guidance of the Archons. And maybe this time is coming soon...

Back to the cycle idea tho. It's all driven by the concept of Samsara - the constant reincarnation as a path to ascension by clearing the karma we gain while leaning to human desirers and ambition instead of living our lives in a purified way. Life itself in any form is a constant cycle of creation (Brama), preservation (Vishnu) and destruction (Shiva). In Hinduism destruction is not meant as a bad thing but as a part of the cycle or rebirth, natural end of things and the only way for renewal. Time can be described as a cycle in such meaning but can the tree? In fact it can. Since trees have fruits and fruids have seed and each seed contain the information of creating exactly the same tree huh... That is the cycle of life. Now knowing how Makoto saved Inazuma even after she herself was already doomed to lose touch to this world I am thinking that she is not the only one capable of alternating the past by creating new seeds. I think too that this requires a great sacrifice too, such she did indeed and such does Otto, knowing he'd disappear in both of the old reality he comes from and the new branch he creates. So I am suggesting here that whatever happened to Makoto maybe she didn't die but chose to sacrifice herself in order to change the past knowing that it was the only way. And the Sacred Sakura grew independent from the Heavenly principles consuming the filth of the monsters spreading in Inazuma and purifying this energy much like trees proceed the carbon in the air to produce oxygen. And this was only time limited solution, prolonging the happenings. I'd say that people, regardless being human or demon/archon are the seeds of Teyvat. However they can't grow high enough to ascend. Very few of them can. Therefore the ultimate seed we'd seek for might be created by our own traveler. I dare to say that if Genshin continues to get dark and deep in its story we might end with our so called evil twin sacrificing themselves for our chosen MC, just as Makoto did for Ei, so Ei didn't have to sacrifice herself in that battle. A war with the destiny, to change one's fate. 

But I don't want to end this with this dark thought, especially when our twins represent the Light.

In fact exploring Dragonspine again with a friend who had unfinished quests there we had to unlock the hidden rooms there and I had the chance to relive the moment when I first saw the murals there and to take far better look than I did back then. Not like I haven't looked at them thousand times through out the internet but still. The man depicted there giving something to the people got my attention with his wings, showing up even hidden by the rocks or the wall crashed. These wings look suspiciously like the travelers' wings from the very beginning of the game. And the aesthetic choice for their design is all related to birds/wings/feathers. Wherever the travelers come from must be the realm of the light, right... Unless the realm of light is ... Khaenri'ah itself...

Among everything I read about Khaenri'ah meaning and inspiration of the name I couldn't really make anything of it until I stretched it it arabic/persian and I found very less likely but also extremely suspicious connections like - wind/رياح/riah; kha/خ as initial letter could be part of the construction of words like immortal and or its synonyms: timeless, undying, outstanding. As for 'aen' might refer to the word for eye, also from Persian referring to - original, essence, source, outness, fountain. (And I think of fountain here not as of the one of the seven nations but as of the well out of which sprouts the great tree of the Norse mythology or in other world the chaos from which the cosmic order also had formed) It's a bit of a stretch but Khaenri'ah might be actually connected to the thousand winds, and more. To begin with the god of time and thousand winds sound suspicious if you think about it as of a deaty that can spread seeds of new worlds, creating new worlds, as suggested by Ei herself - Makoto must have received help from higher level, from Istarot. If Khaenri'ah is stated to be a nation without a god could it be because they are somewhat on a god level or they consider themselves different in such way, and because they are somehow related to the thousand winds, maybe even born by the branches of time, like Venti. Maybe Venti implies that he's met the travelers before because the traveler too has been born of the same 'time' and spread through differenet worlds by the wind. In a way I don't like the favoritism of the anemo Archon for the story but we'll see how they are going to justify the other six of them. Well if the wind carries the seeds the other elements must be accountable to helping it grow. For now all of the seven are just rooting way too deep in my free time haha.